Kalinin AK-1 1924, 1/72nd scratchbuilt

fjaweijfopi4j48 · December 25, 2018

A model from 4 years ago, in a sort of wintery environment, suitable for the season on the Northern Hemisphere.

Alexandrov-Kalinin AK-1 of 1924:

Please notice that this Kalinin and the K-1 Kalinin are not the same, and should not be confused, being these Kalinins two different comrades.

In any case, the AK-1 was a boxy and irresistibly cute nice little Russian passenger plane. One was built and it can be seen in photos at different times in its short life with different schemes and some mods. One photo shows the Lamblin radiators hanging underneath the fuselage, other shows the plane on skis with no visible markings, yet some others show a sort of complicated scheme with abundant lettering and symbols.

Monsiuer Alain Bourret from Canada has already scratchbuilt a nice 1/48 scale rendition of the latter, so I thought I would go for a different version. By the way, you can see on the Net interpretations of its colors as being green, blue, red, metallic and grey. It is up to you, dear comrade, to pick one.

The AK-1 was powered (the term may be excessive) by a water-cooled Salmson 9cyl. radial engine. It could carry four including the pilot, who weathered the elements in an open cockpit as Russians do to enjoy the breeze and temper their characters. Of these four people, a couple of fortunate ones rode inside in a well-appointed cabin that most likely included a samovar and had enough leg room to perform that strange dance that we see in movies in which they extend their legs in the air while crouching with their arms crossed on their chest.

In any case, just bear in mind that the wings had a design that gives the deceiving impression of a gull wing, illusion produced by the thickness of the airfoil being constant from the root up to the point where the struts attach.